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Is there a flashing brake light setup available - R1200RT?


macx

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I've got the "Brake!" flashing rear on my R1150R and really like it -

seems like it would get noticed a lot more than the standard brake

lights. It quits flashing and goes to steady after like 6 seconds or such and stays steady as long as you hold the brakes on so the

flashing doesn't "annoy" somebody behind you.

 

Is there such a thing for an R1200RT?

 

My R1150R has the canbus system and that "Brake!" thing has worked

perfectly with never a problem.

 

Thanks!!

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Check out P3 lights, though they are not a simple bulb replacement; they are additional lights which will work in concert with your tail/brake light and do what you want. More importantly, they are compatible with your Canbus and the RT's single brake/tail light (does your bike have a bulb, or is it now LED?). See the FAQs for the P3s at the link below. My friend has them and they work well.

 

http://www.skenedesign.com/lights/

 

 

BTW, I had an 1150R and I installed a brake light bulb which flashed before burning solid. My bike did not have Canbus. Pretty certain that only came in with the 1200 hexheads.

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markgoodrich

Here's my home-made solution. It flashes several times real fast, then goes solid. I have a one-off flasher which keeps it and the brake light flashing every few seconds, but the real benefit is the quick flashes when the brakes are applied. This thing is super-bright especially with the clear lens.

 

A buddy has BMW's auxiliary LED brake/tail light on his bike, it' also super-bright, but I don't think it flashes.

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Kisan.......got 'em, like 'em........Sixteen LED's in each mount, one on each side of the license plate frame....

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These folks told me that they are working on one for the RT.

Check out the bottom of their product page.

www.adventuretech.ca/

Click on the INSTALL TAB on the top and watch the Utube video from the drop down box.

I don't know, maybe it's about ready for sale.

 

I purchased their 2005-6 GS version, works perfectly.

At the 150ish price point, I'd buy one for my RT as well,

 

Give 'em a call / drop 'em a note.... let them know that they have another interested party.

 

Dmilan

 

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My R1150R is an 04 and I always understood it had the canbus,

of course I have been known to be "incorrect" once in awhile :-)

In fact I seem to remember that flashing rear light I have in

it was made for the canbus. Oh, well, it works.

 

I also have the hyperlites on it, front & rear. I went for the

smaller size but then after getting and seeing how small they

are wished I would have gotten the larger units. They are bright

at night, though, for sure.

 

I do like the idea of a flashing rear main brake light but also

like the idea of additional rear lights, as well as driving lights in the front.

 

I'll check out some of those other ones.

 

Thanks!

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My R1150R is an 04 and I always understood it had the canbus...

 

If you had fuses, you probably didn't have a CanBus bike, but that's history now.

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Hi, y'all. I often see P3 or Hyperlites recommended here, but not BMW's supplemental brake light that costs in the same ball park? Is there a reason that BMW's solution is seldom recommended? TIA.

 

---John.

 

I have the BMW supplemental light and am quite happy with it. :thumbsup:

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realworld51
+1 for the Hyperlites.

 

+2 ... good product that is compatible with the R12RT and excellent customer-friendly service if ever needed. And they are a local business based right here in Michigan.

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Sandberg Eric

I had my local BMW dealer order and install a BMW light that comes on then after a few seconds it pulsates.

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markgoodrich
Hi, y'all. I often see P3 or Hyperlites recommended here, but not BMW's supplemental brake light that costs in the same ball park? Is there a reason that BMW's solution is seldom recommended? TIA.

 

---John.

 

A friend has it on his 2010 GSA. It's miles better than Hyperlites or P3s, in my opinion. My Whelan is still brighter, though.

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Hi all,

I use BMW's supplemental brake light on my 2011 RT, and it's bright. Brighter than the stock brake light. It flashes 4 times when the brakes are applied and then is a steady on. It's easy to install. Just not the cheapest option. I've seen then on some police RT's in the area.

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I just ordered a set of "Hyperlites." I'll take pics of the install. The company is based in Michigan (about 40 min from home), so I thought I'd give a local company a shot.

 

At least there are some good options out there. I'm reading about way too many rear-end collisions lately.

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Hi all,

I use BMW's supplemental brake light on my 2011 RT, and it's bright. Brighter than the stock brake light. It flashes 4 times when the brakes are applied and then is a steady on. It's easy to install. Just not the cheapest option. I've seen then on some police RT's in the area.

 

Did you need to drill any holes? Do you have any installation pictures or tips? Thanks.

 

---John.

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#1 on the Whelan, brightest light out there, at least 3 times brighter than the hyperlights, and only 50 bucks.. have one on all 3 bikes

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Steve Kolenda

John,

 

I have the BMW light on my 2011 1200RT and I was able to snake the wires up along the left side of the bike and into the tail section without drilling any holes. Bike is in storage at the moment but when I get it out in a few days I can take a couple of pictures if you would like.

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Hi, Steve. A few pics would be marvelous. Also, if the brake light doesn't come with instructions, a brief note on what goes where would be helpful. I'm not a DIY'er, so I would have a hard time trying to figure it out on my own. OTOH, I'd like to give installing this a try if you think it's pretty simple. If I find that I can't do it after all, I will cry "uncle" and ask the dealer shop to do it. Thanks.

 

---John.

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Here's something I wrote up after installing my BMW supplemental brake light:

BTW, I really like the taillight. There are no instructions in the box, so I'll post a few hints. The plug connectors in the kit go into the left rear accessory plug wiring. Separate the factory plug and insert the parts from the kit. Easy. The other wire with the bent looking connector goes to the positive wire from the brake light. Remove the brake light lens by unscrewing the two screws facing the front of the bike on the outside edge of the light. Either brake bulb will work. Brown is the ground; you want the other. Remove the wire from the bulb socket and plug the kit's connector to the one on the socket. The hot wire goes into the kit's connector. Pretty slick, actually, once I figured it out. The socket that goes to the lamp has to be routed through the bottom of the "trunk" area. Look from underneath the fender and you'll see where. Drill up from the bottom. I also drilled though the plastic fender extension behind the license plate. There's an indent from the factory that'll show you where. I filled the open space in the trunk floor with some wadded up Scotchbrite pad; keeps the water out but won't get rotten if wet. Difficulty level is a 3/

 

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Hi, y'all. I often see P3 or Hyperlites recommended here, but not BMW's supplemental brake light that costs in the same ball park? Is there a reason that BMW's solution is seldom recommended? TIA.

 

---John.

 

I have the BMW supplemental light and am quite happy with it. :thumbsup:

Same here. Only complaint(?) is it flashes very fast, 4 times in about 1/2 second (ballparked). Would love to slow that down.

Way brighter than stock bulbs and easy to install. Didn't connect mine to aux socket, I put both wires into existing taillight. No muss, no fuss. Downside, if that bulb goes out, so do my LEDs.

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I have the BMW light and am very happy with it and I like the factory look. I did opt to enlarge one of the existing holes in the fender directly behind the light to allow for routing the wiring with it pinching under the assembly. I did not need to drill up higher as I was able to route the wires between the fender and frame without any trouble.

 

The Rear fender extension also protects the connector and from direct spray to some extent. Some have reported trouble with water intrusion into the lamp assembly causing premature failure. Fortunately, BMW warranty is 2 years form date of purchase.

 

I think it increases rear visibility greatly and seems to help keep cars from running up so close behind.

 

Cheers.

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Beemer Supplemental light installation as noted above is a piece of cake. Was going cross country when I was almost rear ended by some idiot talking on the phone in Indiana. Stopped at Chicago BMW and installed it while in the parking lot. Later re-routed the wiring like others above and that was only a 15 minutes job. Found the light very effective.

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I installed these HyperLites on my 2005 R1200RT soon after I purchased it...

 

HyperLites2-1.jpg

 

HyperLites1-1.jpg

 

My personal choice was to configure the HyperLites to always be ON dimly while riding and flash continuously very brightly when the brake is ON. I'm satisfied with this setup and have never experienced any complaints.

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High mounted wireless 3.brakelight in jacket collar..

 

 

There is also a set of Kisan Tailblazers in this video. Installing a resistor in paralell over the two bulbs solved the dash bulb-out warning.

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Mine are mounted on either side of the licence plate. I wanted to keep them further away from my brake light. I set my hyperlites to flash when the brake is depressed. 16 LED's * 2 is the set I would recommend.

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High mounted wireless 3.brakelight in jacket collar..

 

 

There is also a set of Kisan Tailblazers in this video. Installing a resistor in paralell over the two bulbs solved the dash bulb-out warning.

 

Interesting - it'd be nice to know more about this set up

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That's just brilliant.

 

I can see the cars ploughing into the backs of bikes already while they are obsessing over just what is that bloody flashy thing on that blokes neck.

 

More does not always equal better.

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I was more intrigued by the wireless aspect and it's possible use for additional lighting on the tail end or on a top box, etc.

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I can see the cars ploughing into the backs of bikes already while they are obsessing over just what is that bloody flashy thing on that blokes neck.

 

So the first Australian cars with a high-mounted 3. brakelight was involved in more accidents?

 

- Maybe Aussies just had to have a closer look, to find out what that strange additional brake-light on that car in front was trying to tell them!- :dopeslap:

 

 

Sorry, bloke, but I am not following your logic.

 

 

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I was more intrigued by the wireless aspect and it's possible use for additional lighting on the tail end or on a top box, etc.

 

Yeah, I`ve been looking into a wireless solution for my big top box as well. However, that would involve drilling holes and routing wires in a top box that is well known for not wanting to be taken apart.

And I also had a spare Storm Collar for the Streetguard jacket on the shelf anyway, so I did not risk anything if I failed.

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Given that their main purpose was originally to disambiguate the odd American turn signals from brake lights, I suspect for starters that you overestimate the worth to begin with.

 

Even the most generous respectable study I could find found less than 5% reduction in collisions due to high mount lights, this when the function of them are easily recognisable. Take that away, by say having 3 blinking fairy lights on your neck and yes I suspect you're dealing with more a distraction than a safety measure.

 

You want it, knock yourself out; but there's no need to be snippy because somebody else disagrees with you.

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Given that their main purpose was originally to disambiguate the odd American turn signals from brake lights, I suspect for starters that you overestimate the worth to begin with.

 

Even the most generous respectable study I could find found less than 5% reduction in collisions due to high mount lights, this when the function of them are easily recognisable. Take that away, by say having 3 blinking fairy lights on your neck and yes I suspect you're dealing with more a distraction than a safety measure.

 

You want it, knock yourself out; but there's no need to be snippy because somebody else disagrees with you.

 

OK. Sorry for being snippy. Do you have any additional brake lights on your bike? If you have; where have you mounted them?

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I don't mate, I tend to belong to the camp that says that there are certain types out there who are just not going to see us because they are just not looking for us, no matter what we do.

 

Having said that, I take no issue with those who do add extra lighting or strobe effects to existing lighting, it's their ride, their choice; I just tend to feel personally that it's a wasted effort.

 

If I were to do it however, I would want it to be obvious what the extra lighting was for because as I'm sure we've all run into, having a non rider notice a bike all too often doesn't mean that they interpret what it's actually doing.

 

I suppose my fear in this case is "Oooh, look, shiny thing" taking the already too thin attention of lowest common demoniator of driver and the rate of closure going unnoticed. There is no conditioning built in to get a 2 Watt brain to connect lights in that position with a slowing motorcycle and any extra thought from such a brain is of course unlikely.

 

I could of course have articulated that with more success in my original thoughts, and as such I also apologise.

 

I hope whatever lighting you use assists in keeping you safe. :)

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  • 8 months later...

Tom W sent me some pics and suggestions for installing a BMW supplemental brake light, and a lot of encouragement. Turned out he was right: Installation is plug-and-play and no drilling is required. You can see in the pics below that I used a binder clip to secure the cable to the rear fender. Tom W used a nice zip-tie anchor that he stuck onto the fender. I also noticed that the police motors sitting at my dealer use a zip-tie anchor that clips onto the fender (it's a BMW part that my dealer was going to order for me before I decided to use a binder clip; I don't know the part number).

 

---John.

5871.thumb.jpg.5cb20f25f4b21ac6bf517b2cdd338c88.jpg

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+1 for Skene Designs P3.

 

I tried the Hyperlites last year. They don't work quite as intended on the single-wire tailight of late model BMWs -- unless they've been changed since last year. The single-wire tailight is modulated by the canbus controller using a square wave. The Hyperlite was picking this up and starting the flash sequence. If I weren't so picky, I maybe could have lived with it...but then I wouldn't ride a BMW :-/

 

That said, I loved the build quality of the Hyperlites and would install them on any 2-filament motorcycle.

 

Also, I'd say that the owner was a class act as I demonstrated the problem through photos and video and he refunded my money and told me to keep the lights. I gave them to someone at work and purchased the P3s.

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mclassings comments on Hyperlites not working with CANbus is not correct. He either has a wrong model, a defective unit or it is wired wrong. Been using mine since 08 on an RT with CANbus with no problems as have many others. I am not aware of any consistent reports of problems with them. Mine are wired to take power from my fuze panel and the trigger is the bike taillight wire- there are several ways to wire them as the instructions note.

But Skene's are also good. They present a slightly larger and brighter appearance, too, but are more expensive than Hyperlites. I use the front end version, Photon Blasters, and they have been very reliable.

Both firms have great service and well established reputations.

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Of course, @Racer...since your experience was not mine, I am wrong.

 

If I didn't think it would be damning to the Hyperlites product (at least in the BMW community), I would post the testing I did and provided to the owner. He was a stand up guy and refunded my monies.

 

I had purchased the Hyperlites with running lights. So long as I did not connect the "trigger" wire, the device hummed along at 30% intensity. As soon as I connected the trigger wire to my single wire brake light, they started a "ratty flashing sequence."

 

Again. It may be fixed now but as of 2/27/2011 it wasn't. I wouldn't have any problem installing these devices on a non-canbus bike. The build quality was great. I'm sorry they didn't work out for me. At the time, there was a significant price difference between the Hyperlites and P3s.

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